Fellowships

Two American Cancer Society University alumni were offered the opportunity to shadow ACS staff during a five-month fellowship in the U.S. Mrs. Vandana Gupta (V Care Foundation, Mumbai) and Ms. Sutapa Biswas (Cancer Foundation of India, Kolkata) were placed at American Cancer Society offices in Chicago and Atlanta, respectively. During the fellowship, Mrs. Gupta and Ms. Biswas participated in ACS activities from executive leadership to community program implementation. They attended trainings, events, key meetings, and offered the ACS important insight into how to reach the Indian community in the U.S. Following the fellowship, the two leaders were awarded grants to implement community-based cancer control projects in India based on their experiences.

Upon returning home to India, Mrs. Gupta and V Care Foundation have established a patient tracking database to enable V Care to maintain a universal record of patient service interactions and evaluate common requests and trends. Regular analysis enables more efficient, quality responses to those seeking V Care cancer support services. The Cancer Foundation of India launched a "Women in Pink" campaign to educate young, urban women about the importance of breast self awareness. Although breast self-examination (BSE) is not promoted by ACS as a screening method in the US, given the absence of widespread mammography services in India, BSE is potentially effective for detecting cases of the disease and prompting women to go in for follow-up health services by raising the awareness of breast cancer generally. To date, 11 colleges/institutions have been recruited to participate in this program which began in July 2007.